1999 Articles

Images dans les rêves

Freedberg, David A.

In 1246, when the chapel of Saint Sylvester adjoined the Santi Quattro Coronati was dedicated, everyone present at the ceremony probably knew who the saints were. No doubt they knew that the reclining figure was Constantine, that he had leprosy, that he slept and that he saw people in his dreams. Unless we are familiar with the sources, we are now unaware of all this. How could we know that the two saints or apostles are supposed to appear in dreams? What is there to tell us that the king or emperor at rest is not simply sick or asleep - for either possibility is suggested as well - but that he dreams of his nocturnal visitors?